Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 45 TELEVISION DIGEST-7 • • MANUFACTURING, DISTRIBUTION, FINANCE MOLECULAR CONSUMER PRODUCT DUE IN '64; First consumer product of the molecular revolution is almost certain to make its debut next year. It will be integrated-circuit hearing aid, made without conventional components. Hearing-aid companies obviously are in terrific competition to be first with this development, which could put all of instrument’s electronics inside tiny earplug. Following hearing aid by about year will come first major entertainment electronics uses of integrated circuits— possibly beginning with highly efficient low-noise uhf tuners— and 1965-6 should see start of complete revolution in radio. Many in industry, in fact, see in molecular electronics golden opportunity for American manufacturers to recapttme U. S. radio market. In short interval since our last report in Feb. (Vol. 3:5 p7), molecular electronics has grown from a science & technology to a full-fledged boomir^ industry. Military has latched firmly onto this new field, not only because of miniaturization & ultra-reliability it supplies, but because microcircuitry already offers cost savings over conventional techniques. Molecular electronics, or micro-electronics, or integrated circuitry, is outgrowth of transistor technology, and involves fabrication of entire semiconductor circuits— transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.— in one single integral xmit, virtually eliminating connections & conventional components. Perhaps most consumer-oriented of the hundreds of companies now in the business is Westinghouse, whose Molecular Electronics Div. has already shipped several thousand sample molecular circuits to consumer product manufacturers for study. I^r. Harry Knowles told us that sudden "almost panicky breakout" into molecular electronics by military & NASA may well delay original plans to phase into consumer end-product market next year, that now major consumer applications will probably be shelved until at least late 1964, possibly well into 1965. "All of a sudden it’s a real business," said Knowles. "It’s different from the transistor business, which started at high-priced levels. There’s absolutely no fat in the pricing. Cost-cutting is going , on in production activities, and prices are coming down fast. Major complex blocks [circuits] are now being produced for Defense Dept, for less than $10. Within a few years it will completely inundate the consumer market. After the hearing aid, the next molecular product will probably be hi-fi components, then radio— and radio as we know it today will soon be gone." Texas Instruments integrated circuit Marketing Mgr. Charles Phipps agreed that first consumer (uses will be those where costs aren't major consideration — first hearing aids within year, then hi-fi audio amplifiers, possibly in 2 years. Some technical problems still remain in radio field. "We're presently coming into the stage where integrated circuits are becoming economically competitive Iwith conventional circuits in industrial equipment," he said. Military order pickup, he added, will help consumer applications because of increased R&D, production experience, i Fairchild Semiconductor consumer product Mgr. Christopher Coburn also saw major consumer j applications beginning in ’65. "There are many technical problems which must be solved by then," i he added. However, he predicted that low-cost, low-noise uhf tuner was real possibility as first j consumer item after hearing aid. He forecast that consumer & industrial applications of molecular I electronics would grow up together. "The prime idea of the integrated circuit," he said, "is that its > cost is already cheaper in military items; this is bound to be reflected in consumer goods." Texas Instruments’ Phipps suggested that new technology should make possible all kinds of new ! consumer applications which don’t exist now — tiny controls, timers, etc. for appliances and other II uses. He also foresaw possibility of tiny fixed-channel radios, each adjusted to different station, and designed to be thrown away when they stop working. In terms of conventional radios, there’s strong feeling that integrated circuitry could solve im